Nikon Coolpix 880

I love my Nikon Coolpix 800 digital camera. I have owned it for 18 months now and I have taken around 5100 photographs. Work out the cost of film for that! The quality is excellent both picture and build. I have dropped it a couple of times and it still keeps going. If you can afford one, buy one.

I've had my 880 for about a year, and on the whole it has performed superbly. I bought it for 'serious' photography, rather than taking snaps, and haven't been disappointed.

With the addition of a 2x tele converter, nice, close cropped portrait shots can be achieved.

As one of the other reviewers mentioned, a tripod is definitely required, especially if you tend not to use the flash.

I've ordered the 0.66 wide angle lens, and can't wait to get some shots.

My only real gripe would be the aperture control in manual; if Nikon released a firmware patch that unlocked this, I would be a very happy man.

I've been an occasionally-keen amateur photographer for 40+ years (SLRs), and am also a heavy PC user. I'd started scanning my pictures (mainly slides) and manipulating them on screen. Hence this rather expensive impulse purchase, a couple of months back.

I'm very pleased. This is a device which seems to have been thought out by photographers; there's a feeling as you explore the functionality that they're ahead of you, and they've decided as you would wish.

Two particular areas of good results so far: short-range close-ups (eg insect on flower) and low-light shots- for example portrait by candlelight, landscape in the dusk. I've been delighted by the fill-in flash in slow mode- available light (eg candlelight) not washed out.

I've found "normal" compression surprisingly good- an A4 print of our cat from less than the whole image showed impressive fur detail. However, I've now bought a 128mb card and switched to "fine".

I've also not been able to go too far from a laptop (for downloading images) and a mains socket (for charging). The second is the main restriction for me, particularly with my new 128mb card. I resent the high cost of dedicated rechargeables.

My main difficulty has been with use of the screen for framing (I avoid the viewfinder if I can because it is very "pessimistic"). This is fine in low light but hard to see (or shield) in sunshine, even after setting screen brightness to full. I can see the attraction of the swivel on the much-more-expensive 990.

I've ordered a slide copier attachment and am hoping this will avoid the cost of an (excellent) Coolpix scanner.

I'm a complete beginner to digital photography and only having picked up a 35mm compact at most a dozen times, I know very little about the subject.

I chose this camera partly on the advice of my local store and because of a willingness to learn more about photography. the camera is so simple to use in auto mode but also fun (if like me and you know very little) to play around with the manual settings and observe the effects it has on your photos, after all there is no film to waste!

I have already learnt quite a lot and enjoy tweaking with the manual adjustments, however it has to be said that the auto mode and scene selection mode qualities are quite hard to beat!

The literature supplied with the camera is great, I found it very informative as a beginner.

Overall I think this camera is great for the beginner who wants to learn more but also good for the amateur.

My second 880 seems OK - the first one only lasted a month before it conked out but after that false start, I have obtained stunning results with close ups of electronic circuits and other indoor work. Don't assume that flash will completely eliminate camera shake - you still need to be careful at 1/60th sync speed. Use a tripod if possible for interiors, rather than flash - then you avoid mixed lighting (e.g. flash and fluorescent) which will give different colour balance between foreground and background. The double flash limits creative use of the slow sync - the rest of the time its just a nuisance unless you're photographing people.

I only use the viewfinder outside in bright sunlight - when I can't see the screen. The bottom of the viewfinder is quite accurate but the sides and top do crop some of the image. If you can't afford a bigger card for a while, try normal quality rather than fine (full size) it's surprisingly good and you get twice as many shots. The scene mode is very good - I've tried the beach - much more natural results than the same shot in P and I've used night landscape with very good results, I also use the copy mode for copying blackboard work (works better with blackboards than whiteboards).

I'm now a teacher but I earned my living at professional photography for 14 years. I spent a long time deciding which camera to buy and (after two months of ownership) I have no regrets and would recommend this camera - I'm afraid my proper Nikon is now gathering dust...

This camera does not have a shutter priority mode which is no real loss as it is not a popular feature. There is always manual mode anyway so this is not a restriction. The camera has a feature to select the best shot from a sequence of shots which is great for the trigger happy like me because there is no wasted film.- Quality results from a very rewarding camera.